MICHAEL RAULT

Photo by Mat Dunlap

The Edmonton-born, Montreal-based singer-songwriter-producer began working on its songs in earnest after winding down the tour supporting his 2015 full-length Living Daylight, but getting to the point of having an album was a process. "Musically it came out of a period of dissatisfaction, creatively and personally, as I found myself pushing against the limitations of my abilities and approaches to making music." But those delays eventually paid off. As he was working on Tonight's songwriting, Rault kept entering the orbit of Wayne Gordon, the producer / head engineer at Brooklyn's legendary Daptone studio—first through opening stints for the late firebrand Charles Bradley, then while on tour with Aussie shredders King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Sending Gordon early sketches of some songs led to Rault heading to Daptone for what was initially going to be a two-week recording stint. Midway through that Gordon approached him about signing to the Daptone Records label's fledgling rock spinoff, Wick—and becoming the first Canadian member of the Daptone family. Signing with Wick also led to Rault finishing the record at Daptone and bringing Gordon on as co-producer.